Watch | Coronavirus Updates, March 28: On Day 4, Purpose of Lockdown Defeated, Shortage of Medicines

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On Saturday, reports poured in from across the country on the shortage of medical equipment for doctors and a shortage of medicines at chemist shops in some places. The shortage of medicines was reported due to disruptions in supply chains because of the lockdown.

The president of All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists told the Economic Times that if bottlenecks in supply chains are not sorted out soon, then retailers would run out of all supplies in the next four to five days.

Medical store owners in Punjab’s Ludhiana told state media agency ANI that their stock of medicines is “almost exhausted”. The general secretary of Punjab Chemist Association has said that the situation will turn very crucial in the coming 4-5 days.

As reported by The Wire yesterday, an acute shortage of personal protective equipment was seen at two municipal corporation hospitals in Kalyan’s Dombivli in Maharashtra where the maximum number of people have contracted COVID-19 so far.

In Punjab too, according to a report published by an independent journalist Prabhjit Singh, at a district civil hospital in Bathinda, medical teams had been washing their hands with country liquor before a consignment of sanitisers arrived today. The Resident Doctors Association of Punjab branch at the Amritsar Medical College also issued a public notice yesterday saying that they are “working in conditions that provide absolutely no protection against contracting the virus”.

“There are no masks, gloves or sanitisers available, let alone Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits for those working in the emergency wards,” read the notice.